


Up

by Arkiem



Series: Baby Tony [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, All the team thinks Tony's cute, Baby Tony, Babysitter Pepper Pots, Carrying, Crying, Cuddling, Cute Baby Tony, Daddy Steve, De-Aged Tony Stark, De-aged tony, Diapers, Feeding, Gen, Hugging, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Steve's not comfortable around babies, Teddy Bears, Tony is an actual baby, baby crying, cute tony, thumb sucking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-04-22 15:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14311371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkiem/pseuds/Arkiem
Summary: Five times baby Tony wanted to be picked up and Steve didn't want to, and one time Steve did.Or, Tony has been de-aged and he seems particularly attached to Steve. It wouldn't be a problem if Steve wasn't so reluctant to interact with him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I should probably update one of the stories I have still going, but I went on a trip, and I wanted to write because it can be a bit boring sitting on a bus for 12 hours in a row without nothing to do but wait, and I did think about continuing one of the other stories, but sometimes I forget some details and I have to re-read them, something that wasn't that easy to do in my phone (it's not that big), so that's why I began writing this XD.
> 
> I'm a mess. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Although a week had passed since Pepper had practically moved into the tower, Steve was still getting a little aback every time he entered a room and ran into her. Being the CEO of Stark Industries meant she was an extremely busy person and she spent almost all of her time in her office; the only times Steve had seen her wandering around the tower were the times when she was literally scolding Tony for not having gone to a meeting, for failing to meet a deadline or just for doing something she didn’t approve of. Come to think of it, her presence hadn’t been that sporadic back then. 

Steve was sure he’d eventually get used to seeing her around, she was nice and she didn’t feel intimidated by the fact that he was Captain America, something that Steve was pretty grateful for. However, what Steve doubted he’d ever get used to is the baby in her arms, because, regardless of the DNA tests Bruce did said, he couldn’t get his head round the fact that that child was none other than Tony Stark. 

Everything had come to pass so fast that no one really knew what had happened exactly. A battle, an unknown sorcerer who wanted to destroy the city, an annoying and frustrating fight in which everybody got teleported from one street to another without being able to do much about it, a disobeyed order of not getting too close to the guy as magic attacks were always tricky and the Avengers didn’t have much expertise in that field and the disobeyer who managed to get close and got hit by a blue light right on the chest. 

Before they knew it, the sorcerer vanished, the Iron Man’s suit fell into the ground, Tony was replaced with the baby that was now sitting on Pepper’s lap, and according to Doctor Strange, nothing could be done about it but wait until the spell wore off. 

“Got the morning off?” Pepper asked when Steve sat down on the same couch, a few inches away from her.

“Sort of,” Steve answered. 

Whether it was true or not, he didn’t know, but he got the feeling that Fury had something to do with the fact that, since the incident, there was always one member of the team at home. Pepper might have gladly volunteered to look after Tony, but she wouldn't be able to do anything if an enemy showed up. What if the sorcerer had all this planned and turning Tony into a baby was just the beginning of something worse? What if he came back for himy? It was imperative one of them was around just in case. 

"Hi there," Steve greeted Tony, who looked like he had just noticed his presence. The baby jumped slightly as his right hand clutched Pepper's blouse.

"Look, it’s Captain America," Pepper pointed out, making Tony curl closer to her. "Don't be so shy." She smiled, ruffling his hair before returning her focus to the smartphone in her hand. 

Tony was a very shy baby, indeed. And quiet. During the first two days, he just stared at anyone who tried to communicate with him and he cried only when he was truly uncomfortable. He also proved not to be a clingy baby, as he complained constantly and his body tensed whenever he was scooped up and carried for a long time. Pepper was apparently the only one whom Tony didn’t mind being around, and Steve was sure that was due to her persistence rather than Tony’s will. 

“Do you mind?” Steve asked, lifting the remote so Pepper could understand what his intention was. If she was working, he didn’t want to distract her. Pepper raised her gaze and shook her head before brushing a kiss across Tony’s hair. Tony wriggled slightly at the touch, but didn’t babble any complain. 

For the next few minutes, Steve flipped through the channels trying to find a program interesting enough to keep him entertained for a while. He was already done with his training routine and it appeared as though today was his turn to stay in the tower. Watching TV was always a good option when there was nothing else to do, especially when you were trying to catch up on years and years of pop cultural references. 

“That’s a must-see,” Pepper commented nonchalantly when Steve had started to think there was nothing to watch. What seemed to be a comedy movie was being broadcasted, and even if Steve would rather watch an independent movie, he decided to settle for her recommendation. 

The movie did look promising, or that was what Steve thought for the first five minutes before he couldn’t continue paying attention to it anymore. He felt like someone had been staring at him the whole time and there was no way he could manage to concentrate like that. He turned his head around to find a pair of innocent big brown eyes looking fixedly at him, confirming his suspicions. 

"Hi," Steve greeted once more, this time waving at Tony, and received no answer but the stare. Steve was somehow grateful for that.

Unlike the others, he didn’t mind much the fact that Tony seemed to dislike physical contact. He’d heard his teammates complaining plenty of times about how unfortunate it was they couldn’t caress or hug such cuddly and cute baby as much as they liked to. Steve didn’t really get the urge to play with Tony, snuggle him nor scoop him up. He wasn’t bothered by how independent Tony was nor by how he seemed to get annoyed if he received much attention – there was a point when Steve had even thought Tony could understand them, until Bruce assured him that was impossible. 

But don’t get him wrong. It wasn’t like Steve didn’t like Tony, not at all. He couldn’t say his relationship with the man was a good one, but they weren’t foes either. They did argue every now and then because of how different their personalities and ideologies were, and they weren’t each other’s ideal person to hang out with in a lazy afternoon; though, overall, Steve thought they got along pretty decently. If Steve didn’t feel like being all affectionate with baby Tony as everybody else were, well, it was because he wasn’t that fond of babies in general. 

Nobody would believe that Captain America disliked kids, after all, they seemed the be the ones who followed him and looked up to him the most. If someone compared the pictures the Avengers usually took with their fans, he or she would see that almost all of Steve’s had a child in them. They usually wore a Captain America costume, shield included, and they always got thrilled when they threw it at him and he pretended to be defeated. The expression of pure delight in their faces always made Steve feel good. 

Well, perhaps the term ‘dislike’ wasn’t accurate to describe how Steve felt towards children. He did like them, he just didn’t like being around them. Kids were so innocent, so defenseless, so fragile that ever since he had been injected with the Super-Soldier serum, Steve started to believe he would somehow hurt them just by touching them due to his superhuman strength. He hated it when parents handed him their kids to carry them for a while, and an extreme uneasiness took over him when those kids were toddlers or babies. Babies always cried when Steve held them, and he couldn’t help thinking that was because he might be embracing them too tightly without realizing it. Natasha had told him that that was what babies did, they cried when they were separated from their parents; however, Steve didn’t actually believe in that very much. 

Therefore, if Tony didn’t want to be cuddled or scooped up, Steve was more than fine with that. 

“What is it, sweetheart? Is Steve being a meanie?" Pepper asked when she realized Tony hadn't taken his eyes off him, rubbing his tummy affectionately. Tony turned his head slightly to look at her only for a couple of seconds before fixing his eyes on Steve one more time. "Why does he keep staring at you?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Steve admitted, curious about what could possibly keep Tony so interested in him. "Do I have something on my face?" He inquired as he wiped his cheeks just in case. 

Pepper chuckled, leaning closer to Tony's face as if she wanted to check if, from that perspective, she could spot what was keeping him so focused. By her expression, Steve could tell she hadn’t been successful. "What is it, sweety? Don't you recognize him? It’s Steve. You like Steve, don’t you?” Tony took his hand to his face, and the tip of his index finger got lost in his mouth. “Is he scaring you?” She wanted to know, though Tony didn’t say anything – nor that he could – just squirmed a little. 

“I guess I’m making him uncomfortable,” Steve suggested. Without understanding why, that idea made him feel a bit disappointed. “I’d better get going, I’m gonna be around just in case you need anything,” he announced, rubbing his hands against his legs a couple of times before getting up from the sofa. He turned on his heels to leave the room, but some babbles coming from behind him made him turned back again. 

“Come again?” Pepper asked, as though she was going to understand what Tony had said if he repeated it. The baby babbled for a second time and Steve could feel the blood draining from his face when he saw Tony holding his arms up to him, a clear sign that he wanted to be picked up. “Ohh, do you want to go with Steve?” she implied, and Steve was about to tell her that he couldn’t take Tony with him when Pepper stood up and carefully handed him Tony. “There you go,” she said as she maneuvered his arms so Steve held him in a more natural way, one arm wrapped securely around Tony’s waist and a hand palming his little diapered butt. 

Steve’s body tensed and he had to fight back the urge to give Tony back to Pepper right away. What could he possibly argue if he did that? Being uncomfortable around children sounded silly even to him. And what if Tony remembered everything when he went back to normal? Steve didn’t really want him to think he disliked him or anything of the kind, since that would certainly damage the fragile relationship they had. No, he would have to wait for Tony to cry to have a valid excuse for not wanting to hold him. 

The problem was, Tony didn’t cry. He squirmed a little for a while as he tried to straighten enough to reach his face, and after touching it for several minutes with his chubby small hands, he slipped his thumb into his mouth and laid his head back on Steve’s shoulder. 

“He must really like you,” Pepper exclaimed, rubbing slow circles onto Tony’s back. “This is the first time he asks someone to pick him up. He hasn’t done that not even with me.”

Steve didn’t know what to answer back. He could swear there was a hint of jealousy in her voice, but he didn’t understand why. He hadn't done anything to cause that reaction on Tony. Had he not thought it would look bad, he would have put Tony down already. The more time he kept him in his arms, the higher the chances there would be for him to do something that might hurt him. That would be even worse than making anybody believe that he disliked Tony. 

"You know, actually, it's time for his nap, so why don't you keep an eye on him while I go and make him a bottle," Pepper proposed already heading to the kitchen, not giving him the chance to complain. 

Steve stood there with his mouth half-open, not knowing what to do. Nervousness took over him. He had never been left alone with a kid before, much less with a baby, and even if Pepper was just a few feet away, he felt ready to freak out. Determined to go after Pepper and make up an excuse about why he couldn't look after the baby, Steve took some steps forward, but he stopped when Tony stirred a bit and began to nuzzle his neck right before he yawned and cuddled against his chest, closing his eyes. 

Cute. 

What made Steve sat back down on the sofa instead of continuing his way to the kitchen? He didn’t know. Nor did he know why he kept holding Tony all the time he napped. The feeling of uneasiness, anxiety and apprehension never disappeared. Steve felt his heart stop every time Tony fidgeted in his sleep, afraid that he might have been hugging him too firmly. Though, apparently, he wasn’t.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been stupid and absurd, and Steve was well aware of that. Nothing guaranteed that Tony was going to want Steve to pick him up every time he saw him from then on, but even son, Steve had considered that avoiding running into Pepper during the next two days was the best way to proceed. 

On the third day, he realized that hadn’t been his cleverest reasoning, so he decided to end that nonsense and go to have breakfast with everyone else – or at least with the ones who were in the tower. 

“Would he like coffee if he drank it right now?” Steve heard Clint wondered when he was a few feet away of the communal kitchen. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Natasha warned before taking a bite of her toast. 

“And I wondered why Phil told me never to leave Tony alone with you,” Pepper said as Steve walked into the room. She was twisting the top off of what looked like a jar of baby food. Tony studied her with bright, curious eyes, apparently oblivious to Steve’s presence in the room. Good. 

“You should really listen to Phil,” Steve advised.

“Hey! What do you mean by that? I’d never give coffee to a baby!” Clint assured, his face screwing into what definitely was a pout.

“You tried to feed him pizza yesterday,” Natasha reminded. 

Clint glared at her, “but I didn’t.”

“But you tried.” 

“Well, he was whining nonstop and pleading loudly because he wanted pizza. What was I supposed to do?” Clint defended himself, and his pout deepened when Natasha rolled her eyes at him.

“Not feed him?” 

“He was about to cry.”

“Then stop eating so he doesn’t want to eat too.” 

Steve couldn’t help chuckling, it was always amusing to hear Clint and Natasha arguing. Contrary to what they said, they sounded like a pair of siblings fighting, Natasha being the older sister who had to deal with her little brother’s crazy ideas. 

While he kept paying attention to their funny talk, Steve grabbed a plate and a cup from the cabinets, helped himself some scrambled eggs and apple juice, and joined them at the table. Having breakfast – or any meal for that matter – with someone else was much better. Steve did appreciate having some alone time every now and then, but there were certain things he preferred not to do by himself. 

“Come on, Tony, open up baby,” Pepper pleaded. Steve felt curious enough to turn around and look towards her. She was holding a spoon in front of Tony’s mouth, a mouth that, seemingly, Tony didn’t want to open. “It’s delicious, look,” she assured as she grabbed some of the baby food with her finger, taking it into her mouth and groaning as if it was the most delicious thing she’d ever eating. Steve didn’t buy it, and it appeared Tony didn’t either. 

“He’s not eating correctly?” The words came out before Steve could stop himself. So much for going to ignore anything related to Tony so as to avoid the baby to take interest in him once more. 

“Not really, I always thought that habit of his of not eating healthy food was something he’d picked up when he was an adult, though now I see he’s always been picky,” Pepper commented right before she began making airplane noises as she moved the spoon like it was a plane. Tony flowered the spoon with his eyes, clapping his hands a couple of times, but dodged it once it was dangerously close to his mouth. 

“That was why I wanted to feed him pizza, he’s gotta eat something!” Clint argued. 

“And how on earth do you think he was going to chew it? He barely has teeth,” Natasha said unsmilingly. Clint pouted again. 

“So he hasn’t eaten anything?” Steve questioned, voice rising a bit to show surprise, concern as well as confusion. Tony’s been a baby for more than a week, it wasn’t possible that he hadn’t eaten for that long; even if he was a picky eater, Steve was sure babies got hungry pretty frequently. Besides, if his memory served him right, Steve had seen Pepper feeding him a bottle. 

“Oh no! He’s eaten, but it’s been really hard to make him eat, hasn’t it, you little monster?” Pepper exclaimed fondly, poking Tony in the nose. The baby shook his head. “He doesn’t mind drinking milk or formula, but he doesn’t like it when I try to feed him something more wholesome. Ohh! But don’t show him junk food, because he’s going to turn into a piranha.” 

“You see! It wasn’t my fault!” Clint shrilled. 

"Clint, Natasha's right. You shouldn't have even considered giving him pizza, just because babies ask you for things constantly doesn't mean we have to give them everything," Pepper explained as she tried once more to feed Tony the mush with no success. Natasha grinned mockingly at Clint, earning a glare from him. "You don't see me letting him use my cell phone every time he reaches for it, do you?" 

Clint banned his head against the table as he moaned loudly. Steve couldn't help laughing, though he wished he had. 

Whether it was because Pepper had put away the spoon and Tony didn't have to watch out for it anymore, or because Steve had indeed been quiet so far trying unconsciously not to draw attention, he didn't know; but Steve could see, almost in slow motion, how Tony became aware of his presence. He turned his head to where he was sitting and stared at him for a few minutes, as if he didn’t recognize him. That was good, maybe those days he had avoided him had made the baby forget about him – after all, it wasn’t like they’d spent a lot of time together. Babies didn’t have a very good memory, did they? 

However, when Steve had started to think that he was off the hook, that he was just being paranoid and that Tony asking him to pick him up had been just a one-off event, Tony babbled happily at the same time he held his arms up to him. Steve’s throat went dry.

“That’s new,” Clint pointed out, straightening up. 

“Not really, he did that the other day when we were in the living room,” Pepper said, “you see, I was right, he must really like you,” she addressed Steve. 

Pepper stood up and, after putting the jar of baby food away, she began unstrapping Tony from the highchair. A sense of dread rolled through the pit of Steve’s stomach because he knew, he _just_ knew what she was going to do next. 

The thought of fleeing from the kitchen crossed his mind, but there was no way he could do that without looking like a maniac, especially with that many people in the room. What on earth could he possibly use as an excuse for not wanting to hold Tony? The fact that he was having breakfast? Not good enough, many mothers had breakfast and did many things while carrying a baby. It’d be hard to believe that Captain America couldn’t grab a fork with one hand and a baby with the other. 

“Here you go,” Pepper said as she placed Tony on his lap, maneuvering his arm so he wrapped it around the baby’s waist. Tony kicked his legs in the air and clapped once in apparent contentment. 

“What if he wants to eat what I’m eating?” Steve blurted out. That was a very good excuse, wasn’t it? They’d been just talking about that. 

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve never seen a baby asking for eggs.” Pepper played his concern down. Man! He should’ve grabbed some toasts, they might have attracted Tony’s attention. 

“He does seem to like you,” Natasha remarked upon seeing how Tony kept kicking his legs in delight. Steve wished he stopped doing that, it felt like he was going to slip off his lap and he was too afraid of hurting him if he pulled him closer to him. 

“Well, Tony was a sucker for Captain America, so it’s no surprise baby Tony likes you,” Clint observed.

“That’s not true,” Steve complained. If Tony looked up to him, he’d obey Steve during battle, and he probably wouldn’t have gotten himself into this mess. 

“Yes, it is,” Clint assured. “Hey, what if he tries to feed him? He might eat if Captain America’s the one who’s feeding him, don’t you think?” He suggested.

“That’s actually a good idea,” Pepper agreed, already reaching for the jar and handing it to Steve, who reached for it by pure reflex. People have got to stop deciding things that involved him, seriously!

For several minutes, Steve stayed there, an arm holding Tony and a hand holding the baby food jar. How did Pepper expect him to feed Tony when his hands were full? He had no idea. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. Steve was well aware of the fact that he could put the jar on the table and just grab the spoon, but what if Tony decided to start squirming and fell off his lap? Steve would surely need both hands to prevent that. Catching a falling baby with just one hand might hurt him, and his brain might slow a bit down due to his nervousness and decide that dropping a spoon wasn't a viable option either. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that neither Pepper nor the others noticed or cared about his predicament, since they had resumed their breakfast and chitchat, so, Steve had no other choice but to comply. He placed the jar in front of him, plunged the spoon inside of it, took it out to verify he hadn't spooned out too much puree and held it very close to Tony's lips. Tony looked at it, then at him, then at the spoon again, and finally at him, brows drawn together in what expressed confusion, as if he couldn’t understand why he was being offered something he'd already rejected. He was a pretty smart baby indeed. 

A bit awkwardly, Steve smiled and nodded to let the baby know it was alright. Tony kept looking at him for a while before deciding to give it a try and open his mouth. It took Steve several seconds to figure out that he was supposed to pop the spoon in, and it was a little embarrassing to admit that he’d come to that realization until Tony groaned slightly and slammed his tiny chubby hand against his thigh. 

“You see, he doesn’t get that fussy with Steve,” Clint pointed out, and he wasn’t wrong. Tony had screwed his face in disgust as soon as the baby food had touched his tongue, but he hasn’t refused to continue eating, and by the third mouthful, he even looked like he was starting to like the bananas, peached and raspberries puree he was gobbling down. 

At some point, Pepper told him the spoonfuls he was feeding Tony were too small and it was going to take him all morning to finish if he didn’t began spooning up more mush. Steve found it hard to do that, the more baby food he gave Tony, the higher the chances of causing him to choke were. Suffocating a baby with food wouldn’t be much better than hurting him because of excessive strength. Steve would never be able to deal with the havoc either of those situation would cause. He was going to take his time even if that meant he had to hold Tony for a longer period. 

Besides, maybe that would make Pepper think he wasn’t good at this and that might deter her from asking him to perform the task again, right? 

“Well, I know who’s gonna feed him from now on,” Pepper chanted happily once Tony had eaten all the puree.

Steve felt like slamming his head against the table for not foreseeing that outcome. He should’ve dropped the baby food jar instead of feeding Tony successfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Procrastination is soooo good sometimes. But tonight I'm gonna be suffering because I haven't finished what I'm supposed to finish u.u. 
> 
> If you saw any mistakes, please let me know :D


	3. Chapter 3

Having an exceptionally keen hearing was a great help to Steve when he was in the middle of a fierce battle. Countless were the times when he’d avoided being taken by surprised and attacked from behind due to his ability to hear even the tiniest sounds. Perhaps someone would think that hearing the crunch of a footstep on grass or the bounce of a minuscule rock wasn't such a big deal, however, being able to detect those sounds while there were detonations around you and your teammates were having their own stand-up comedy show over the intercom was something more than impressive. 

Unfortunately, that skill of his wasn't always an advantage. And in cases like today, when he wanted to take a nap after having come back from a three-day mission at a very early hour and spent all morning awake, all the noise around him was keeping him from staying in dreamland. If he’d had a normal hearing, he might not have heard in his sleep the sound of a baby crying. 

It took him several minutes to identify his surroundings. He must have been more tired than he'd thought, it wasn’t common for him to fall asleep at any place other than his floor, but the elevator had seemed so far away, and the couch had felt very comfortable, and his eyelids had been extremely heavy that staying right where he was had been a particularly appealing idea. Had he known he was going to be woken up only twenty minutes after he had fallen asleep, he would have dragged himself downstairs. 

Deciding not to pay attention to it, Steve turned on his side as he placed a cushion over his head in order to mitigate the noise. It worked, he still could hear the baby cry in the distance, but it wasn’t that rowdy to prevent him from going back to sleep. The problem arose when, after a few minutes of continuous wails, Steve began to wonder why he was crying. It was almost impossible to fall sleep if your mind was active. 

What was Pepper doing? Why didn’t she calm him down? It was true that Tony had been a bit fussy in the morning – he hadn’t even paid attention to Steve when he showed up, something Steve had truly appreciated, he was too exhausted to have to deal, on top of that, with the dread carrying Tony caused him – but that had been why Pepper was going to put him down for a nap. Hadn’t she? Had Tony never gone to sleep? That wasn’t possible, Steve would’ve never fallen asleep with those cries in the background. 

One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. Ten minutes. Ten minutes passed since Steve had woken up and the crying didn't cease. Would there be a problem? Had Tony gotten fussier and Pepper was having problems to soothe him? Or was something worse? 

A bit lethargically, Steve sat up and swung his legs off the couch. Chances were that Tony decided not to ignore him this time if he saw him, especially if he was in need of some comfort, and even if Steve would much rather stay put because of that reason, he couldn't help wanting to go and see what was going on. He might not be that fond of babies, but he guessed anybody could idly sit by when one was crying. 

As he walked down the hallway, he could hear how Tony's wails intensified, making him cringe. How such a small person could cause such thunderous cries, Steve would never truly understand. Once he was in front of the nursery – it had taken Pepper only half-day to turn one of Tony’s guestrooms into a nursery, which made Steve wondered if she’d furnished all the tower in a matter of days – he reached for the knob, pausing to take a breath to prepare himself mentally for what was about to happen. With the picture of Tony asking to be picked up stuck in his mind, Steve twisted the knob and walked into the room. 

It was dim even though it was sunny outside, surely JARVIS had had the windows glass darken to create an environment more appropriate to sleep. Steve’s eyes focused right away on the far left hand corner of the nursery, where he could easily spot Tony sitting in the middle of the crib, screaming at the top of his lungs. Who he couldn’t spot was Pepper, he looked around the room searching for her but she wasn’t anywhere to be found, and the turned-off lights in the bathroom told him she wasn’t there either. 

“JARVIS, where’s Pepper?” Steve asked. His voice attracted Tony’s attention immediately, and that feeling of uneasiness, that was becoming awfully familiar, creeped up Steve’s spine when the baby lifted his arms up. 

“Miss Potts is in the conference room,” JARVIS answered. 

“What? Why?” 

“Apparently, there were some unexpected issues, and Miss Potts is now dealing with them by videoconference.” The A.I. informed, and Steve did not like that what he’d heard. 

If Pepper was in the middle of a videoconference, that meant she wasn’t going to come for Tony even if Steve informed her he was crying. With Tony out of the picture, Pepper had to make sure his absence didn’t disrupt the company’s proceedings, and there was also the agreement all of them and SHIELD had reached about not letting anyone else find out about Tony’s current state, as a security measure. If whoever Pepper was talking to saw her arriving with a baby in her arms, that would definitely create controversy. 

No, Steve would have to deal with this himself, though he wasn’t that thrilled with the idea. 

Taking short steps, he walked to the crib and stood right beside it. Tony had crawled to the closest corner as if he’d wanted to make it easy for Steve to scoop him up. “Hey Tony, what’s the matter?” he questioned, though he got nothing but cries as an answer, as seemed obvious to expect. Hesitantly, Steve bended over a bit to reach Tony’s head with his hand and he stroke his hair carefully. That should do it, right? Babies found being caressed soothing, didn’t they?

Apparently, they didn’t, or at least Tony didn’t, because he began crying a little more loudly when he realized Steve had no intention of lifting him. He pushed Steve’s hand out of the way and, with difficulty, he stood up and held his arms up once more, leaning on the side of the crib to keep his balance. 

“Take it easy, Tony, Pepper will be here soon,” Steve promised, now rubbing the baby’s back, something that clearly wasn’t enough to calm Tony down since he started to step from one foot to the other in an attempt to find purchase on the mattress to be able to reach Steve. 

Steve felt awful. There was no way he was going to scoop Tony up. Besides the fact that he wouldn’t be able to know if he hurt Tony because he was already crying, he had no idea of how to pick up a baby, he’d never done it before. All the babies he had held in the past – Tony included – were handed to him. He could certainly try, it couldn’t be that difficult and he wasn’t dumb enough not to be able to do it after having seen everybody else lifting Tony for over two weeks now. The thing was Steve was afraid that his nervousness and apprehension made him screw it up somehow. 

“What’s the matter, Tony?” Steve repeated the question, getting already a bit frustrated. Perhaps if he knew the reason why the baby was crying, he could do something about it. 

Did something hurt? Steve doubted that, baby or not, it was common instinct to press the body part that was causing pain, and Tony still had his arms up. In addition, JARVIS would have already informed him if there was something wrong with his creator’s health. 

Was a diaper change needed? That could be it, Tony didn’t tend to cry when he had a dirty diaper, but Steve might have taken more time that he’d thought to get to the nursery and Tony might have gotten very uncomfortable by now. Steve leaned forward further to check his diaper, not really knowing what he was going to do if that was indeed the problem. If he’d never scooped up a baby, he’d never changed a diaper either, nor had he seen someone do it. Whenever Tony needed to be changed, Pepper took him out of the room – probably to the nursery, where the changing table was – and Steve had never followed her. Fortunately, Steve didn’t have to think about how to handle a dirty diaper, because Tony hadn’t made use of it yet. Unfortunately, that meant Steve still didn’t know what was wrong with him. 

“It appears that Little Sir had a nightmare,” JARVIS said as if he’d been reading Steve’s thoughts. 

For a second time that day, Steve didn’t like the information the A.I. provided. A nightmare meant there wasn’t nothing really wrong with Tony, he was just scared and in need of consolation. You had to hold a baby in order to soothe him, and that wasn’t an option, at least not for Steve. 

Perhaps if he distracted Tony, he’d forget about the bad dream. He looked around searching for something that could attract the baby’s attention and his eyes spotted a stuffed elephant that lay on the crib next to a pillow. Steve had seen Tony hugging that plushie a few times, which meant he liked it. 

Carefully so he didn’t push Tony by accident, Steve moved nearer to the crib and reached for the elephant, straightening up almost immediately just in case Tony decided it was a good opportunity to latch onto him or something. He positioned the stuffed animal in front of his face, covering it, and began greeting the baby with a cartoonish voice. Clint did that once and he successfully entertained Tony for a while, so chances were it worked again this time. 

And it did. It took Tony a few seconds to notice the elephant, but once he did, to Steve’s delight, he went quiet. Teary eyes stared at the soft toy with curiosity, index finger hanging from the mouth and breath hitching. Shamefully, before Steve had time to relax, the crying resumed, even more intense. 

“Come on Tony, calm down,” Steve begged as he sat down on the floor, leaning his shoulder against the crib. Tony sat down too, and took advantage of the close distance to slip an arm through the crib bars and clutch his sleeve. That only made Steve feel worse. “I know you want me to pick you up, but I can’t, I may hurt you,” he explained, hoping that would be enough for Tony to stop. He might not be able to really understand them, but he was pretty intelligent, so maybe he could sense the desperation in his voice and understand his wails were the ones causing it. 

It turned out his voice didn’t sound desperate enough. 

Tony’s face had gone red and puffy with the effort and he’d started having a hiccup attack. He just looked on the edge, he’d been crying for too long and Steve couldn’t stand it anymore. Determined to stop this once and for all, he stood up and stared at Tony, and when he was trying to figure out what the best way to pick Tony up would be without risking injures, something came to his mind. He really didn’t need to lift Tony in order to comfort him, did he? Tony just needed to get close to him without having something between them getting in the way. If the crib bars were preventing them from doing that, and if Steve couldn’t take Tony out of the crib, well, Steve would have to get into the crib.

Gently, Steve pushed Tony until he had him cornered and out of the way, and then, he climbed slowly into the crib. It looked solid and resilient, however, it hadn’t been built to withstand a grown-up, so he had to be careful. As he’d thought, it wasn’t large enough to allow him to sit down with his legs stretched out, and he struggled a little to find a comfortable position to sit. But once he was settled – one knee pulled up to his chest while he had the ankle and feet of his other leg sticking through the slats – he removed his hand from Tony’s side and, in a matter of seconds, he had the baby next to him, trying to climb onto his abdomen. 

“If I get stuck in here, I’ll never talk to you again,” Steve threated, without really meaning it, as he placed a hand under Tony’s butt to help him get on the top of him. "Shhh, it's okay Tony, it was just a nightmare, it wasn't real," he soothed, rubbing small circles on Tony's back. 

Having Tony lying on his chest got him a little tense, but Steve had to admit that it was really rewarding being finally able to calm him down. It wasn't long before Tony's wails turned into sobs, and his hitched breathing evened considerably. When Steve looked down Tony had his eyes closed, and he looked so heartbreakingly cute that Steve couldn’t help hugging him and brushing a kiss over the top of his head. The way the baby stirred and moaned happily caused a warm feeling to settle in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter. This turns out to be easy to write when I'm in the bus.
> 
> P.S: Pepper's not a bad babysitter. As far as she knew, Tony was sleeping and JARVIS never let her going he'd had awaken because Steve was right there, a few feet away from the nursery. If Steve had taken more time to get to Tony, JARVIS might have done something about it. 
> 
> If you spotted any mistakes, please let me know :)


	4. Chapter 4

Steve felt relieved when he stepped into the communal living room and saw no one else was there. He'd been quite hesitant whether to go down there or not, and at the end he'd decided to do it only because he was truly starving. What had he been thinking when he got JARVIS to stop stocking his personal kitchen? Wasting a little food once in a while because he wasn’t there to eat it didn’t seem to be a good enough excuse right now. 

Quietly, just in case, he made a beeline to the kitchen. It wasn't like he was avoiding Pepper and Tony once more, it was just that he didn't see the point on staying around if someone else was already looking after them. As far as he knew, Bruce was at home too, and he tended to hang out with them whenever he was there. That had certainly been astounding, everybody thought Bruce was going to keep his distance from baby Tony, afraid of hulking out in the presence of such a defenseless child; however, unlike Steve, Bruce had found looking after an infant very soothing. 

Taking a quick look at what was inside of the fridge, Steve decided to fix himself a sandwich. It would be easier and faster, and, to be honest, he wasn’t really in the mood of cooking – or rather, he wasn’t in the mood of running into anybody because he had taken too long to make something more laborious. He grabbed some lettuce, cheese and ham, a couple of tomatoes and a jar of mayonnaise from the refrigerator, placed everything on the counter and then, he got some white bread from the cabinets near the stove. 

Three triple decker sandwiches would be enough. In less than five minutes, he had washed the lettuce and tomatoes, chopped them, taken twelve slices of bread from the bag, spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on top of all of them, and taken all the slices of ham out of the package. He hurried to made the sandwiches and clean everything up before grabbing the plate to head towards his floor. Unfortunately, just when he was about to go around the kitchen island to leave the room, the elevator doors opened, revealing Pepper, Bruce and Tony. 

Why on earth did Steve think that squatting down to hide from them was what he had to do? He had no idea, but before his brain could register his actions, he’d already done that, and, what was worse, he’d done it so fast that, at some point, he’d let go of the plate and the sandwiches – or rather the ingredients that constituted them – ended up spread all over the kitchen floor. 

“Steve? Is that you?” Steve heard Pepper ask, voice amused. 

“Yes,” Steve answered, standing up slowly. The idea of keeping quiet and staying right where he was crossed his mind, but he figured he’d already made enough fool of himself. 

“What were you doing down there?” Pepper questioned, confused. 

“I slipped.” Pepper raised an eyebrow in obvious disbelief. Okay, that had been a lame excuse and Steve knew it, but what else could he have said? That he was trying to prevent Tony from seeing him so he didn’t have to hold him? That sounded way much lamer. 

“Wait, wait, I know, I know,” Bruce expressed when Tony began squirming in his arms. He bended down and placed Tony on the floor, keeping his hands on his sides to make sure he didn’t tumble down. It took the baby a few seconds to keep his balance, and he pushed Bruce’s hands away tout the suite, making Bruce chuckle. “He’s been doing that all day,” he explained to Steve, “it’s like he’s decided to learn how to walk properly in just a day.”

“And he will if you keep allowing him. You’re gonna be the one who’s gonna look after him once he starts running off,” Pepper joked as she walked towards the kitchen. “Oh my, what a mess,” she expressed after seeing what had been Steve’s sandwiches on the floor. “I guess you’ll have to make more.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t that hungry, I’ll just wait for dinner,” Steve hurried to lie. If he stayed there to fix himself something else, chances were that Tony spotted him and demanded to be scooped up. He’d better leave as soon as possible. 

“Oh, nonsense. Let’s clean this up and then I’ll make you some more,” Pepper offered, already crouching down. 

Needless to say, Steve couldn’t talk Pepper out of preparing some more sandwiches, nor he could convince her to let him help her. He ended up sitting on a stool, leaned over a counter, waiting for her. The good thing was that Tony didn’t notice him; as Bruce had said, he seemed to be determined to get the hang of walking as soon as possible. He stumbled sometimes and whined when Bruce held him to prevent him from falling, but besides that, the baby looked extremely pleased with himself for being able to move without anyone’s help. 

“Here you go.” Pepper placed a plate in front of him, startling him slightly. How long had he been watching Bruce and Tony?

“Oh, thank you, you really shouldn’t have,” Steve thanked with a small smile as he got up from the stool. 

“Don’t mention it, after all, it was our fault you slipped,” Pepper acknowledged, and Steve would’ve thought that claim sounded a bit odd if he had paid attention to it instead of hurrying to leave the floor. “You’re not staying?” 

“No, sorry, I need to finish the report of my last mission, I just came here to get a snack,” Steve lied once more. Unlike Clint who never wrote them or Tony who got JARVIS to write them for him, Steve was the only one who filled out the reports right after the missions. 

“Oh, I see.” 

Steve grabbed the plate, this time being particularly careful not to drop it, and rushed out of the kitchen and into the living room. Without being able to help it, he turned around to look at Tony on his way to the elevator. In spite of the fact that he felt alleviated because it appeared as though he had managed to get out of holding Tony this time, there was a little part of him that was a bit disappointed because the baby had not even noticed his presence. Had he finally become aware of Steve’s reluctance to be around him? That made Steve feel a bit uneasy. 

However, before Steve had the chance to beat himself up for the way he’d been acting, he could see, almost in slow motion, how Tony turned and met his gaze, how his face lit up in pure delight when he recognized him, how he span around all of a sudden taking Bruce by surprised, how he attempted to run towards him, and how his legs failed to react as fast as he’d wanted, making him fall flat on his face inevitably.

\- - - - -

It had been awful. It hadn’t been the first time Tony cried, nor the first time Steve saw him crying; nevertheless, it had been the first time Tony cried because of him, and the feeling that caused was dreadfully indescribable.

Would it have hurt Steve to approach Tony and greet him properly before leaving? Not at all. If Steve had done that, he would have probably prevented the fall. Tony might have asked him to pick him up, Steve was sure of that, but he might have also asked him to put him down almost right after so he could continue walking. Then, Steve could’ve slunk off without further complications. 

But he hadn’t. And Tony had tumbled. And Steve had done nothing but stayed there, without lifting a finger, seeing how Bruce was the one who picked the baby up and cradled him in his arms in an attempt to calm him down. It should have been Steve who comforted Tony, because it had been him the one who caused that distress. 

However, that hadn’t been the worst part. What made Steve felt like the worse human being in the world was what happened next. 

In what seemed forever, Tony stopped crying, and soon he demanded to be set free once more. Bruce put him down on the floor, and kept notably close while Tony made a beeline for Steve, who couldn’t bring himself to leave after what had happened even if he knew – and somehow dreaded – what was coming. He saw how the baby got to where he was with unsteady steps and how he clapped happily once he was in front of him, clearly proud of having been able to walk such a long distance. Then, he began babbling as he tugged on Steve’s pants, looking up at him so tenderly that Steve’s remorse just increased. 

How could Tony look at him like that if only a few minutes before he’d been wailing about something Steve had caused? How could Tony get so excited to see him if Steve did nothing but try to avoid him? 

“Hey, you,” Steve greeted as he squatted down to be closer to Tony’s eye level, ruffling his hair with his free hand. Tony clapped once more before leaning against his knee to keep his balance. 

“Clint’s right, he really likes you,” Bruce commented, standing up. “Well, it’s your turn to keep an eye on him, be careful because he likes heading to the elevator,” he warned as he took the plate Steve was still carrying. 

Steve had the urge to call Bruce when he saw him walking away towards the kitchen, not really wanting to be left in charge of Tony, but he fought it back. He figured he kind of owed it to Tony. Remorse would never leave him alone if he left. He spent the rest of the afternoon holding Tony’s small hands and walking behind him to wherever he wanted to go – he had whined when Bruce held him to help him walk, though he apparently didn’t mind if Steve did so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, OMG, OMG, I watched Infinity War, and OMG, I've been pretty much in shock. I couldn't get myself to write because I'm just too distracted thinking about the movie XD. 
> 
> Anyway, if you saw any mistakes, please let me know.


	5. Chapter 5

When Steve woke up today, he had only one thought in mind: putting an end to this nonsense once and for all. Today, he was determined to overcome the absurd fear he had of scooping up and holding Tony. Besides the fact that he was getting tired of feeling stupid for fearing such a trivial thing, he’d also started feeling like a jerk, and his conscience couldn’t stand that. Tony wasn’t asking for anything out of the ordinary, nor was he doing it in order to annoy Steve; he was a baby and it was normal for him to want to be held. 

It couldn’t be that difficult. Everybody else lifted and carried him as if it was the most natural thing in the world, so why wouldn’t it be possible for Steve to do the same? It was true that none of them were super soldiers as he was, but they were stronger than a normal human being, and, up until now, they hadn’t hurt Tony in any way. 

“Babies are far more resilient than we give them credit for,” Bruce had said a couple of days ago when Tony had accidentally bumped into an end table. He had obviously cried and had needed to be comforted, though it hadn’t been long before he started running again – or trying to run – as if nothing had happened. 

That didn’t mean Steve could be careless. He had to be careful when he handled Tony, but maybe he was being extremely careful. Yesterday, he had seen Clint throwing the baby up in the air, and he had come out unharmed. Needless to say, both Pepper and Natasha almost killed Clint for doing such a reckless thing, though Tony’s giggles had clearly shown that he’d loved it. If Tony could stand those things, he might be able to stand being picked up by a super soldier. 

So, with that in mind, Steve went to his morning jog to blow off some steam, took a long shower to calm his nerves down, got dressed with comfortable clothes, headed downstairs to the common kitchen where Pepper and Tony would certainly be, and lost all determination as soon as he stepped inside and saw _everybody_ was there. 

What was doing all the team there? Steve couldn’t even remember the last time more than four members were at home at the same time, let alone in the same room; and now, even Thor was there. Was he really that unlucky? Approaching Tony in front of everybody was definitely something he couldn’t do. What if he actually hurt the baby? Everyone would witness it and that would be an awfully heavy burden to carry, whether it had been an accident or not. 

“Steve, hurry up or Clint will eat all the pancakes,” Phil warned after a few minutes when Steve failed to go further into the room. 

“Hey!” Clint complained, mouth full.

\- - - -

It took all his willpower to stay and join them at the table, and even the thought of sneaking out constantly appeared in his mind throughout the breakfast, Steve got rid of it every single time, determined not to back out. If the problem was that everyone was there, well, Steve just had to wait for them to leave. And they eventually would.

Even if all of their days off coincided – which didn’t happen as often as people would think – they didn’t spent much time together. Meals were usually the reason why they got together in the first place, sometimes a movie, but after they finished eating or watching it, everybody tended to wander around in the tower doing whatever they found entertaining. Tony and Bruce hung out in their workshop and laboratory respectively; Clint had the weird habit of exploring the tower vents; Natasha stayed in her floor doing, well, only she knew what and no one never dared to ask; and Thor usually left to visit Jane wherever part in the world she was. So, chances were Pepper and Tony were left alone after breakfast, and then Steve would have the chance achieve his resolution. 

The problem arose when nobody seemed to have the intention of leaving even though all food had been already consumed. And the reason why all the team had made no attempt of going was the same reason that had made Steve stay: Tony. 

At the beginning, the baby had looked overwhelmed by the crowd of people who were trying to attract his attention, so badly that he had demanded Pepper to scoop him up from the highchair and he had spent almost all breakfast hiding his face against her chest. Tony had clearly become less withdrawn than he’d been on the first days after he was turned into an infant, though he clearly wasn’t comfortable being the center of attention of so many people at the same time.

Fortunately, after everyone understood Pepper’s gestures and stopped trying to lure him out of hiding, the baby slowly started feeling comfortable in their presence, and he even began asking for pancakes to whoever had eye contact with him. Pepper ended up agreeing and fed him tiny pieces of pancakes after Tony refused to eat his baby food, and although Steve considered feeding him himself as Tony never rejected what he offered him, he abandoned the idea, still not willing to get close to the baby while being in front of all the team. 

“How about watching a movie?” Clint suggested after an extremely long – or that was how it had seemed to Steve – table talk. When everybody agreed, even Bruce who wasn’t that keen on spending much time around others, Steve decided he didn’t like Clint that much anymore. 

An animated film was chosen for the sake of Tony, there was no need to expose him to images that were surely going to cause him nightmares later. Nonetheless, Steve figured playing a movie not appropriate for kids wouldn’t have really mattered, since the baby paid no attention to the TV. 

During the first ten minutes of the movie, Tony was more interested in Thor; perhaps because he’d seen him only once before, perhaps because he’d gotten mesmerized by the Asgardian’s height, broad physique and appearance in general. The baby looked up at him with curiosity until Thor felt his eyes on him and beckoned to him smilingly. Tony thought about it for a moment, and then babbled and pointed at the floor, indicating Pepper he wanted her to put him down there. She did, and Tony waddled towards the armchair where Thor was sitting on. He spent the next twenty minutes in Thor’s arms, tugging at his beard and playing with his hair. 

Then, it was Natasha’s and Clint’s turn to entertain him. Once Thor stopped being a novelty, Tony decided the next thing he wanted to do was running. Ever since his legs had become stronger and he’d gotten more control over them, Tony had acquired this habit of running off out of the blue, something that made Pepper extremely nervous and fascinated Clint. It had become somehow common to see Tony chasing Clint to mess with him, then run away from him to avoid payback, and hide behind Natasha, who seemed to be the only one that had no problem smacking Clint for being bothering a baby. 

 

So, paying the movie no attention any longer, everybody entertained themselves watching how Tony ran away from Clint after having thrown some popcorns at him, and how Clint caught him after having given him some leverage, tickling him enough to make Tony enjoy it but not too much to make him hate it; and they repeated that until Clint handed the baby to Pepper, arguing he’d broken down because there was a not-so-pleasant smell coming out from him. 

“Well, after breakfast and all that tickling, what did you expect?” Pepper said on her way to the elevator to go upstairs to change Tony’s diaper. 

When they came back, Pepper warmed Clint not to overexcite Tony anymore, or he’d have to deal with the consequences of having a tired grumpy baby who had refused to take his morning nap because he’d preferred to stay up playing. And even if Clint stopped, Tony ended up skipping his nap anyway. Bruce and Phil thought it was a good idea to play with some jumbo blocks Pepper had gotten for Tony a couple of weeks ago, and Tony had liked them so much that he’d refused to stop playing until they had used all the bricks – which Steve bet were definitely more than a thousand – to build a castle where he could fit. 

What Steve thought would be a short wait, turned out to be very long, and Steve liked Clint a bit less when he proposed having lunch together. 

Four more hours would have to pass until Pepper and Tony were the only ones lest in the communal living room. 

\- - - -

“You’re not gonna hurt him, you know,” Pepper said from behind, startling him. 

“What?” Steve asked as he turned around to look at her. Pepper leaned against the back of the sofa where he was seated, and she raised her chin to point at Tony with it. “I don’t understand,” he lied, and, against his will, he could feel himself blushing. 

“You won’t hurt him if you pick him up,” Pepper clarified, and encouraging smile on her face. 

“Who says I will?” 

“You.” 

Steve’s eyebrows waggled.

“I’ve been looking at you, and you’ve been staring at him all day with such longing, and yet, you haven’t gotten closer at all,” Pepper explained as she straightened up and walked around the couch to sit down next to him, a few inches away, “and that made me wonder why was that, why you were the only one who didn’t interact with him at all today. And then I remembered how tensed you get whenever he wants to be around you as well as the fact that I’ve never seen you actually scooping him up.” She crossed her leg, and moved slightly looking for a more comfortable position. “Why would you not want to scoop him up? You and Tony aren’t particularly best friends, and I know you’ve had your differences, but it’s not like you hate, not even dislike, each other. Besides, babies have a je ne sais quoi that made people around them want to hold them and cuddle them, even Bruce had had no problem doing that. And after giving this a lot of thought, and seeing your behavior from today, the only reason I can come up with is that you’re afraid of hurting him somehow.”

Steve sat forward a little, mouth open to comment something before he paused, frown deepening. He didn’t have the slightest doubt why Tony had kept Pepper around. 

“You won’t.”

“But he’s so fragile,” Steve argued, not even bothering to deny what Pepper had just said. He turned his head to look at Tony, who continued glued to Pepper’s smartphone, sitting down on the floor a couple of meters away from them. 

“Thor’s very strong too, and he didn’t hurt him, did he?” Pepper pointed out, and she was right. 

“I don’t know.”

“Go and pick him up,” Pepper prompted, patting him on the knee. 

“But–”

“Just do it, if something bad happens, which is not, I’m here, I’ll handle it,” Pepper promised. 

Steve considered her suggestion for several minutes while he rubbed his hands nervously against his legs. He got up from the sofa after reminding himself of how determined he’d been that morning to do exactly what Pepper was suggesting, and he began walking towards Tony, taking short slow steps. Once he was behind him, he took several deep breaths before bending over, placed his hands on the baby’s sides, and lifted him up extremely carefully. Pepper chuckled from the couch, though Steve couldn't blame her, he must have looked a bit stupid holding Tony at arms' length. 

How was he supposed to turn Tony around to hold him in a more appropriate way? Steve had no idea. What if he dropped the baby when trying to do that? Now, he realized he shouldn’t have lifted him from behind. It’d be better to place him back down on the floor and pick him up once more. That would probably make Pepper laugh a bit more, though Steve didn’t have a chance to prove that because Tony started crying before he could even begin considering another way to fix his slip-up.

Steve was ready to panic.

“Oh, take it easy,” Pepper spoke in an amused voice, standing up and making a beeline for him. When she reached him, Steve thought she would take the baby from him, but she squatted down instead. “He’s not crying because you’re hurting him, he’s crying because he dropped this when you picked him up,” she informed as she got up and hold up her smartphone in front of him. Tony went quiet and reached for it immediately, and his crying resumed when Pepper moved it away and placed it in her pocket. “He always cries when his time with the phone is up. I guess he’s always had that obsession with gadgets and machinery.”

“Please hold him,” Steve begged. 

“I have a better idea. Why don’t you hold him while I go and fix him a bottle? He must be cranky because he hadn’t napped all day,” Pepper suggested. Nimbly, she helped him to position Tony in a more comfortable way for both of them, cradling the baby in his arms, and pushed him gently back to the sofa. “Sit down, I’ll be back in a minute.”

That minute felt like an eternity to Steve. He mentally assured himself that Tony wasn’t crying because of him, that Pepper was right and that the baby was just mad because she had taken the cellphone away and because he was tired after the hectic morning he’d had. 

However, there was a tiny part of his mind that refused to believe that, and that part was enough to put Steve on edge. He didn’t like it when Tony cried. He didn’t wail at the top of his lungs as Steve had heard so many kids did, but his crying sounded awfully heartbreaking. Steve wanted more than anything to make the baby happy again, though he didn’t know how to do that. 

By the time Pepper returned, Steve was already wondering what he’d been thinking that morning when he decided to do this, especially after she failed to meet his expectations once more by not taking Tony from him and handing him the bottle instead. What was he supposed to do with it?

“You’re supposed to use it to feed him,” Pepper informed as if she had read his mind. Or maybe because Steve had done nothing but stare at the bottle for several minutes. 

“How?” Steve forced himself to ask, refraining himself from asking Pepper to do it herself. 

“Here.”

With Pepper’s guidance and help, Steve positioned Tony in a different angle and offered him the nipple, which he baby latched on and began to suckle right away, ceasing that way his crying. Steve felt relieved. Pepper had to tell him to tilt the bottle a bit more when a lot of noisy sucking sounds could be heard, and not to tilt it that much when milk started to spill down Tony’s chin, but besides that, bottle-feeding turned out to be quite easy. 

Soothing too. Steve was surprised by the sense of wellbeing that took over him just for watching Tony drink from a bottle. The way the baby looked up at him with gleaming eyes caused Steve a fluttery feeling in his stomach, and right there, in that moment, Steve couldn’t remember why he’d been so afraid of scooping Tony up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter and that's it. I'm gonna try to update soon, but I promise nothing n_n''' I've got quite a lot of things to do u.u
> 
> Please, if you saw any typos, let me know. :)


	6. Chapter 6

“A book, how can a book can keep him entertained for this long?” Clint complained, taking a cushion and holding it against his chest. 

“ _Books_ ,” Steve corrected. 

“Whatever, they’re books! What child finds books fascinating?” Clint pouted his mouth at him.

“Tony does.” Steve shrugged. 

“But why?” Clint insisted. 

“Well, first, he’s Tony,” Steve said, as he tended to do whenever he couldn’t really understand or explain the reason why Tony did certain things, “and second, why do you care so much?” 

Clint’s mope deepened, “because I’m bored. I came here to play with him, and he totally ignored me.” Steve couldn’t help chuckling. Clint was the one who played with Tony the most, and whenever the baby rejected him because something else proved to be more interesting, the archer sulked. 

Steve, on the other hand, was perfectly okay with being ignored. If Tony wanted to spend all morning playing with those sound books Pepper had gotten him, he saw no problem with that. Besides the fact that Tony’s claps and giggles indicated he was having a blast, Steve could actually use a break from him. 

It seemed like Tony had interpreted the fact that Steve scooped him up as a permanent green-light to approach him whenever he wanted, because, from that day on, the baby had been practically glued to him every time they were in the same room and there was nothing more interesting that attracted his attention. Tony wanted Steve to feed him, to play with him, to lull him to sleep, and, yesterday, Steve had even ended up changing his diaper – something he hoped he didn’t have to do again, since being peed on the face hadn’t been funny, no mattered that the fit of giggles Tony had said otherwise. 

Doing all that wasn’t something Steve particularly looked forward to, but it wasn’t like he disliked it either. Surely, spending all that time with Tony had made Steve get a bit more relaxed around him – and he had to admit that hanging out with a baby was soothing in a way he couldn’t truly describe nor understand – though he hadn’t been able to get rid of that fear of hurting him somehow. He couldn’t help thinking the more time he spent with Tony, the higher the chances were that that happened. 

What if Steve unconsciously held Tony too tightly to avoid him from falling off his lap? What if he patted him too hard when he was burping him? What if he stepped on the baby when he was running after him? Now, there were so many more occasions on which Steve could screw everything up. 

Steve was afraid he was becoming a little bit too paranoid. 

“Okay, let’s see why those things are so entertaining,” Clint announced. He got up from the couch, walked towards Tony, sat down cross-legged on the floor next to him and took the book he was currently playing with. 

“Don’t upset him,” Pepper warned, surely worried Tony might not want to take his morning nap if Clint got the baby all overexcited as he tended to do. 

“Relax, I just wanna see what all the fuss is about. Farm animals? Really?” he exclaimed, helping the baby to get on his feet and lean against his thigh to keep his balance. “Do you really think this is so fascinating?” He raised an eyebrow questioningly. Tony pointed at one of the buttons on one side of the book, and babbled until Clint got the hint and pressed it. The sound of a cow mooing could be heard, making Tony clap in excitement. “Seriously?”

“Moooo,” Tony imitated, smiling happily. 

“Exactly! That’s how cows make!” Pepper said a bit too excitedly, startling the three of them. “Moo!” 

“Moooo,” Tony repeated. 

“Very good!” Pepper praised, tousling his hair affectionately. “You’re such a clever boy.”

“Clever? He just said _moo_ , that’s not being clever,” Clint argued, a line of confusion materializing between his eyebrows. 

“Oh, don’t listen to him, sweetheart, you’re a pretty smart boy” Pepper ordered, a disapproving look in her eyes. She beckoned Tony with her hands, but the baby ignored her and focused his attention once more on the book Clint still had on his lap, pressing several buttons and creating a slightly annoying cacophony of animal noises. “Come here, sweety,” Pepper insisted, and Tony only listened to her when she took the book away from Clint and placed it on her lap. “Can you say _moo_ again? Moo.”

“Moooo,” Tony said, pressing the button with the cow sticker on it a couple of times. A smile lit up Pepper’s face. 

“Okay, there’s something I’m clearly missing, why are you getting so excited?” Clint asked, still confused. 

“I think he’s ready to start talking,” Pepper informed as he lifted Tony and placed him on her lap, keeping the book within reach. 

“How come?” Steve questioned. How could Pepper know such a thing? 

“Well, he’s been babbling a lot lately, and sometimes I get the feeling he wants to say something but he just doesn’t know the words,” Pepper explained. “Why did you think I bought these books?” 

“Because you were boring and you don’t know what toys are fun.” Clint pulled a mocking face at her, Pepper glared at him, Steve chuckled, as Tony kept pressing buttons randomly.

\- - -

“You know, wanting his first word to be _mama_ is such a cliché,” Clint commented by the umpteenth time Pepper uttered that word. 

Apparently, she had thought that, after being able to articulate that onomatopoeia correctly, it wouldn’t be difficult for Tony to say the word ‘mama’; so, during the last thirty minutes, she had been trying to get the baby to say it, with a total lack of success. Tony kept saying _moooo_ as if that was what Pepper was requesting, her insistence on the change of vowel going totally over his head. When it was evident that wasn’t what she wanted, he stopped paying attention to her and focused once more on the books. 

When Pepper asked Clint what word he recommended to be Tony’s first and he began listing words that not even a baby genius could ever pronounce, Steve decided it was time to leave. He’d gone downstairs to the communal living room only because he hadn’t wanted to disappoint Tony by not showing up, but if the baby had no intention of hanging out with him, Steve might as well take advantage of it and spend the rest of the day anxiety-free. 

“Where are you going?” Clint questioned when he saw Steve getting up from the couch. 

“Training,” Steve said, which wasn’t entirely true. He still hadn’t decided what he was going to do, though informing he had no plans could probably get him a request to stay. 

“Mind if I join you?” Clint asked. 

Whether it was because Clint stood up or because Steve had to walk through the living room right in from of them in order to reach the elevator, Steve didn’t know, but when he had gotten just a couple of inches away from them, he heard the baby start babbling. Feeling remorseful, Steve kept walking without turning to look behind. If there was any kind of eye contact, Steve was afraid Tony could begin crying, and if he began crying, Steve wouldn’t have the heart to leave. 

Steve reached the elevator and he had never been so grateful for not having to press any buttons so the doors open, as JARVIS controlled all that. Tony had gotten more vocal and that was already making him rethink whether he should stay or go. He set his right foot inside the elevator, and he would’ve set the other one too if the baby hadn’t yelled something Steve couldn’t believe his ears. 

“What did you say?” Steve asked, disbelief in his voice, as he turned around and look at Tony with eyes wide open. 

“Dada!” Tony repeated, his lower lip protruded in a sulky pout, clearly angry with Steve for ignoring him. 

Pepper commented something and Clint made fun of what she had said, though Steve couldn’t really tell what that had been since he was finding it very hard to think straight. Had Tony just called him _Dada_? Wasn’t that term supposed to be like a huge thing? Did Tony really understand what that word meant, or had it been just an opportune mistake? Just some babbles turning into a known word only by luck? But that couldn’t be, because Tony had said that word twice. Then, why had he used that term to refer to him? And why was Steve experiencing total bliss? 

“Dada!” Tony called again, rising his hands towards him, pout deepening. 

Steve crossed the living room in a few strides and, for the first time in all the time Tony had been a baby, he scooped him up without really giving it much thought. The baby kicked his legs in the air and clapped his hands in happiness, and to Steve’s delight, he kept calling him ‘dada’ as if he had figured out that was the reason why Steve had that goofy smiled plastered on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, today I felt like doing nothing (work related) and I needed to keep my mind distracted, so, I ended up writing this.   
> There were going to be six chapters since the beginning, but I might write a short epilogue, though I promise nothing. 
> 
> I hope you had enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed imagining and writing it. If you spotted any mistakes, please let me know, because a lot of misspellings tend to go over my head lately.


	7. Chapter 7

Someone was calling his name in the distance, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to response, nor did he seem able to open his eyes, trapped in that stage where his mind was awake but his body continued asleep. That itself was weird, because, after the serum, he could pass between stages of sleep and wakefulness in a flash, not even experiencing dizziness if he got up too fast.

However, over the last few days, he’d found himself sleeping more than he normally did, and getting into a deep sleep quickly wasn’t an issue anymore. Bruce had told him he had nothing not to worry about, that it was perfectly normal for him to be more tired than usual after looking after a baby for most of the day, and Steve had a hard time believing that. It’s just didn’t make any sense to be much more exhausted after an afternoon with Tony than after an afternoon in battlefield. 

“Captain… Captain… Captain Rogers,” Steve kept hearing, and it took him an embarrassing amount of time to realized that it was JARVIS the one who was calling him. "Captain Rogers… Captain.” 

“What’s the matter?” Steve said, of he thought he said, because his ears told him that what had come out of his mouth had sounded nothing like that, and the chuckle the A.I. emitted did nothing but confirm it. That only made Steve feel more confused and disorientated than he already was, since he didn’t even know if it was possible for JARVIS to chuckle. Was he imagining things?

“I’m sorry to wake you up, Captain, but Miss Potts is on her way here, and she asked me to do so,” JARVIS informed, and that was all Steve needed to get rid of the drowsiness. 

“Did something happened?” Steve asked, concern in his voice. A glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand corroborated it still was the middle of the night, and that only worried him more. What could possibly Pepper want at such an early hour? Had something happened to Tony? It was true that Steve had started to spend more time with the baby, but bedtime was something Pepper kept being in charge of. 

“Little Sir–,” and Steve pushed the sheets aside and got out of bed before JARVIS could finish that sentence, because he really didn’t need – or want – listen to it. 

In a very few strides, Steve crossed his room and went all the way to the living room, where his supersoldier hearing could pick up on the sound of the elevator working. His heart skipped a beat when the wails of an infant cut through the silence in the room, and Steve hurried to reach the elevator before the doors even opened. 

“Oh God, Steve, I’m sorry to wake you up,” Pepper apologized as soon as she saw him, clearly taken a little aback for running into him before even having the chance to stepped into his floor. 

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked, eyes focused on the crying and squirmy baby in her arms. It took Tony some seconds to become aware of his presence, and once he did, he began reaching for him desperately. 

“Nothing serious,” Pepper assured as he handed the baby to him. Tony curled against his chest right away, though his cries didn’t decrease as they usually did whenever Steve held him. “I’m afraid he had a nightmare. Again.”

“Oh,” Steve acknowledged, feeling sorry for Tony. If dealing with nightmares was harsh when you were an adult, it was much worse when you were a kid. Steve just wished Tony’s bad dreams weren’t about the things he’d experienced during his adulthood, because those would be difficult to understand by his current baby mindset, let alone cope with. “I’m so sorry, baby boy,” he said as he brushed a kiss over the baby’s sweaty forehead. 

“I tried to make him go back to sleep, you know, this is not the first time he has a bad dream,” Pepper explained, caressing the baby’s head affectionately, “but he just wouldn’t calm down and he kept calling for you.”

“For me?” Steve raised a confused eyebrow. 

“Yes, for dada.” Pepper informed, and Steve could feel how his mouth broke into the wide and goofy smile he always wore whenever Tony called him that – a smile he was only aware of until Clint began mocking him. “Is it okay if he stays with you? Can you watch over him? I have a board meeting first thing in the morning,” she asked.

For a moment, Steve felt how panic wanted to creep up on him, but he didn’t allow it. “Yes, of course, sure, no problem, I can look after him, it’s okay, it’s gonna be fine, I can do that,” he forced himself to say, or babble rather than say.

“Thanks. I’ll be in Tony’s penthouse if you need anything,” Pepper reassured before leaning forward to press a kiss against the top of Tony’s head and squishing Steve’s arm in sympathy, not oblivious to his insecurity but polite enough not to comment anything about it.

Steve saw Pepper take a couple to steps backwards and disappear behind the elevator doors at the same time he kept a close eye on Tony, afraid the baby could react badly due to her departure, but he didn’t. When Tony wanted Steve, well, he was the only person he wanted, and he ignored anyone who wasn’t him. Steve felt strangely proud of that fact.

“Shhh, it’s okay Tony,” Steve soothed as he brought the baby closer to his chest, pursing his lips when Tony hid his tear-stained face in the crock of his neck and clutched the fabric of his t-shirt as if his life depended on it. “Dada won’t let anything bad happen to you,” he assured, and he didn’t need to be in front of a mirror to know he was blushing, because he always did when he used that term to refer to himself – another thing Clint had been very kind to point out and make fun of. Steve didn’t mind that that much, though, because that word always brought a smile to Tony’s lips. 

Sighing with resignation, Steve turned around and headed back to his room. He tightened his hold on Tony, and a warm feeling spread throughout his belly when the baby melted into the hug. “Shhh, it’s okay sweetheart,” he hushed, entering his bedroom and making a beeline for the windows. His eyes focused on the skyline while his right hand rubbed slow circles onto the baby’s back, and he pressed a kiss to Tony’s head every time one of his sobs became too strong. 

If someone had told Steve a few weeks ago that he would find himself alone with Tony in his arms in the middle of the night, he would probably have snorted, skeptical. How could he be left in charge of Tony if he almost got an anxiety attack every time he had to scoop him up? It would have certainly made no sense back then. 

Funny how things changed in so little time, because now what made no sense to Steve was why it took him so long to realize how simple it was to deal with baby Tony, how perfectly he fit in his arms and lap, how gratifying it was. To tell the truth, Steve was even ashamed of how reluctant to interact with the baby he was before. 

And now, well, the only thing that came to Steve’s mind every time he hung out with Tony was how much he was going to miss his baby persona once he went back to normal. Steve was going to miss how Tony’s chubby face lit up whenever he walked into the room; the innocence and astonishment with which Tony looked at the things for the first time; the little tantrums Tony threw when a gadget was taken away from his small hands; how Tony giggled whenever someone tickled him; how Tony waddled away from them when it was time to eat, and how he waddled back once he saw the food was something he actually liked; how Tony followed him everywhere until he agreed to lift him up; how Tony clapped his hands and kicked his legs in the air whenever he was glad, and how he didn’t hesitate to go and get a hug when he wasn’t feeling okay. 

But above all else, Steve was going to miss how Tony called him _dada_. 

“It’s okay, baby, you’re safe with dada,” Steve crooned when Tony whined unhappily against his neck. He nuzzled the baby’s hair as he started to rock him back and forth, and he found himself intoxicated, yet one more time, by the warm baby scent that he had come to love. 

Steve didn’t know how long he stayed there in front of the windows lulling Tony to sleep, but it didn’t really matter, watching the infant’s peaceful expression once he had gone back to sleep made it totally worth it. If he had had to, he would gladly have stayed there until dawn, holding him against his chest, enjoying the closeness. A day would come when Steve wouldn’t be able to share these moments with Tony – the man could really manage to shy away from any physical contact – so Steve had to take advantage while he still could. 

With careful movements, so he didn’t wake Tony up, Steve walked to his bed and placed him down on the mattress, arranging the pillows in such a way they surrounded the baby. Tony stirred and screwed up his face a little, clearly unhappy for the loss of Steve’s warmth against his body, but the only thing Steve had to do to soothe him was to place a hand on his tummy and rub it affectionately. Keeping the caress, Steve lay down on his side on the bed, eyes glued to the baby. 

For the rest of the night, Steve refrained himself from falling asleep, preferring to watch over Tony while he rested instead. He would gladly say he did that to make sure Tony didn’t roll out of bed, or to be ready to wake him up just in case he had another nightmare, but, shamefully, that hadn’t been the reason. 

Steve might have learned how to ignore that irrational fear of interacting with Tony, thinking he would hurt him somehow, but that was when he was awake, when he was conscious. The bed was huge, there was a barrier of pillows, JARVIS would be surely monitoring them, and he had never been the kind of person who moved a lot during his sleep, but, Oh God! What if Steve managed somehow to roll over on Tony while he slept?

Okay, maybe it had been too soon to bid farewell to anxiety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, I said I'd write a kind of epilogue, but I guess it ended up being another chapter. Hope you like it anyway. 
> 
> I don't know, since I started writing this, I got the idea of Steve overcoming his fear, but somehow stumbling again at the end, I do have a thing for awkward and insecure Steve. 
> 
> I won't be writing anything else about this story, at least not for the forseeable future, and if I do, well, it might end up being a non-sexual age play one, but I have other stories that are incomplete, so I guess I'm focusing on those ones. 
> 
> Thanks a lot for all your kudos and comments, they do lit up my day. I hope you liked this story as much as I liked writing it. 
> 
> And again, if you spotted any mistakes or typos, please let me know.


End file.
